Tryon Edwards

He that is possessed with a prejudice is possessed with a devil, and one of the worst kind of devils, for it shuts out the truth, and often leads to ruinous error.

— Tryon Edwards

The prejudiced and obstinate man does not so much hold opinions, as his opinions hold him.

— Tryon Edwards

Preventives of evil are far better than remedies; cheaper and easier of application, and surer in result.

— Tryon Edwards

Sense, brevity and point are the elements of a good proverb.

— Tryon Edwards

The certainty of punishment, even more than its severity, is the preventive of crime.

— Tryon Edwards

Always have a book at hand, in the parlor, on the table, for the family ; a book of condensed thought and striking anecdote, of sound maxims and truthful apothegms. It will impress on your own mind a thousand valuable suggestions, and teach your children a thousand lessons of truth and duty. Such a book is a casket of jewels for your household.

— Tryon Edwards

We should be as careful of the books we read, as of the company we keep. The dead very often have more power than the living.

— Tryon Edwards

Right actions for the future are the best apologies for wrong ones in the past – the best evidence of regret for them that we can offer, or the world receive.

— Tryon Edwards

Sin with the multitude, and your responsibility and guilt are as great and as truly personal, as if you alone had done the wrong.

— Tryon Edwards

Ridicule may be the evidence of wit or bitterness and may gratify a little mind, or an ungenerous temper, but it is no test of reason or truth.

— Tryon Edwards

He is one of the noblest conquerors who carries on a successful warfare against his own appetites and passions, and has them under wise and full control.

— Tryon Edwards

The first step to improvement, whether mental, moral, or religious, is to know ourselves – our weaknesses, errors, deficiencies, and sins, that, by divine grace, we may overcome and turn from them all.

— Tryon Edwards

Whatever the place allocated us by providence, that is for us the post of honor and duty. – God estimates us not by the position we are in, but by the way in which we fill it.

— Tryon Edwards

The highest attainment, as well as enjoyment of the spiritual life, is to be able at all times and in all things to say, 'Thy will be done.'

— Tryon Edwards

Thoroughly to teach another is the best way to learn for yourself.

— Tryon Edwards

Temperance is to the body what religion is to the soul, the foundation and source of health and strength and peace.

— Tryon Edwards

If rich men would remember that shrouds have no pockets, they would, while living, share their wealth with their children, and give for the good of others, and so know the highest pleasure that wealth can give.

— Tryon Edwards

To rule one's anger is well; to prevent it is better.

— Tryon Edwards

Right actions in the future are the best apologies for bad actions in the past.

— Tryon Edwards

Abuse of any one generally shows that he has marked traits of character. The stupid and indifferent are passed by in silence.

— Tryon Edwards

Right actions in the future are the best apologies for bad actions in the past.

— Tryon Edwards

Accuracy of statement is one of the first elements of truth; inaccuracy is a near kin to falsehood.

— Tryon Edwards

Age does not depend upon years, but upon temperament and health. Some men are born old, and some never grow so.

— Tryon Edwards

Anecdotes are sometimes the best vehicles of truth, and if striking and appropriate are often more impressive and powerful than argument.

— Tryon Edwards

Anxiety is the rust of life, destroying its brightness and weakening its power. – A childlike and abiding trust in Providence is its best preventive and remedy.

— Tryon Edwards

Prejudices are rarely overcome by argument; not being founded in reason they cannot be destroyed by logic.

— Tryon Edwards

The desires and longings of man are vast as eternity, and they point him to it.

— Tryon Edwards

The leaves in autumn do not change color from the blighting touch of frost, but from the process of natural decay. They fall when the fruit is ripened, and their work is done. And their splendid coloring is but their graceful and beautiful surrender of life when they have finished their summer offering of service to God and man. And one of the great lessons the fall of the leaf teaches is this : Do your work well, and then be ready to depart when God shall call.

— Tryon Edwards

Have something to say ; say it ; and stop when you’ve done.

— Tryon Edwards

Never be so brief as to become obscure.

— Tryon Edwards

Between two evils, choose neither; between two goods, choose both.

— Tryon Edwards

Compromise is but the sacrifice of one right or good in the hope of retaining another – too often ending in the loss of both.

— Tryon Edwards

We never do evil so thoroughly and heartily as when led to it by an honest but perverted, because mistaken, conscience.

— Tryon Edwards

Contemplation is to knowledge, what digestion is to food – the way to get life out of it.

— Tryon Edwards

Most controversies would soon be ended, if those engaged in them would first accurately define their terms, and then adhere to their definitions.

— Tryon Edwards

Credulity is belief on slight evidence, with no evidence, or or against evidence. In this sense it is the infidel, not the believer, who is credulous. 'The simple,' says Solomon, 'believeth every word.'

— Tryon Edwards

This world is the land of the dying ; the next is the land of the living.

— Tryon Edwards

Deference is the instinctive respect which we pay to the great and good. The unconcious acknowledgement of the superiority or excellence of others.

— Tryon Edwards

Thoughts lead on to purposes ; puposes go forth in actions ; actions form habits ; habits decide character ; and character fixes our destiny.

— Tryon Edwards

Deviation from either truth or duty is a downward path, and none can say where the descent will end. – 'He that despiseth small things shall fall by little and little.'

— Tryon Edwards

The great end of education is, to discipline rather than to furnish the mind ; to train it to the use of its own powers, rather than fill it with the accumulation of others.

— Tryon Edwards

The first evil choice or act is linked to the second ; and each one to the one that follows, both by the tendency of our evil nature and by the power of habit, which holds us as by a destiny. – As Lessing says, 'Let the devil catch you but by a single hair, and you are his forever.'

— Tryon Edwards

People never improve unless they look to some standard or example higher and better than themselves.

— Tryon Edwards

Facts are God’s arguments : we should be careful never to misunderstand or pervert them.

— Tryon Edwards

Fables, like parables, are more ancient than formal arguments and are often the most effective means of presenting and impressing both truth and duty.

— Tryon Edwards

Science has sometimes been said to be opposed to faith, and inconsistent with it. But all science, in fact, rests on a basis of faith, for it assumes the permanence and uniformity of natural laws – a thing which can never be demonstrated.

— Tryon Edwards

Any act often repeated soon forms a habit : and habit allowed, steadily gains in strength. — At first it may be but as the spider’s web, easily broken through, but if not resisted it soon binds us with chains of steel.

— Tryon Edwards

Hell is truth seen too late — duty neglected in its season.

— Tryon Edwards

True humility is not an abject, groveling, self-despising spirit ; it is but a right estimate of ourselves as God sees us.

— Tryon Edwards

There is often as much independence in not being led, as in not being driven.

— Tryon Edwards

Some men are born old, and some never seem so. If we keep well and cheerful we are always young, and at last die in youth, even when years would count us old.

— Tryon Edwards

Sinful and forbidden pleasures are like poisoned bread; they may satisfy appetite for the moment, but there is death in them at the end.

— Tryon Edwards